Listening fatigue after conversations in virtual noisy rooms (Hládek 2025)

After effortful conversation in noise, response times got faster and accuracy did not systematically change, yet self-reported effort and fatigue rose. The speed-ups were partly training artifacts.

A plain-language summary from binaural's reading notes, edited by Jude Mc. Last updated 10 November 2026. Not medical advice.

The question: Does a 30-minute conversation in a noisy virtual room fatigue spatial selective attention?

Preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed; the sample size is not stated in the abstract.

What it found

• After effortful conversation in noise, response times decreased and accuracy did not systematically change.
• Self-reported effort and fatigue rose.
• Subjective listening fatigue and objective spatial-attention performance therefore dissociated, and the behavioural speed-ups were partly training artifacts.

Limits

• This is a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed, and the exact sample size is not stated in the abstract.
• Strong training and practice effects across sessions confound the fatigue signal.
• The sample was young, normal-hearing adults in a laboratory virtual-acoustic setting.
• It studies spatial attention under noise, not spatial audio as a way to improve focus.

Where this sits

More in the library on attention, memory and thinking. For the wider picture, read Binaural beats for focus and studying.

This is our plain-language reading of the paper. It is not medical advice, and one study rarely settles a question.